


I Remember When I Lost My Mind

by LittleDancingRat



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Shining - Stephen King
Genre: M/M, The Shining References, The Shining spoilers obviously, charlie kelly has the shining, feral charlie but thats expected, manipulative dennis as always, needy ass mac, season 12 gang bc s14 mac would fuck dennis up, this is pretty much just the shining but with iasip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:07:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23437405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleDancingRat/pseuds/LittleDancingRat
Summary: “So get this, there’s this hotel way up in Oregon that closes down every winter all the way through to spring. I guess they get some guy to watch it and take care of the boiler or some shit. Anyways, they pay up big money,” as Frank says this all eyes turn to him.“So are you gonna take it?,” Dennis asks. Charlie can already see the plan formulating in Dennis’s mind, how he can worm his way into the deal.Frank laughs like it’s the stupidest question in the world, “hell no! I’m gonna take it and pay some chump way less to do my job for me,” He downs half a beer after saying this.They all jump at the opportunity in a cluster of voices until Dennis’ stands out, “no no, why-” he nervously laughs, “-I can take the deal, I mean I’ll do it. I have no problem with staying in a hotel by myself. Don’t offer it to some lowlife on the street.”
Relationships: Charlie Kelly & Mac McDonald, Charlie Kelly & Mac McDonald & Dee Reynolds & Dennis Reynolds, Charlie Kelly & Mac McDonald & Dennis Reynolds, Charlie Kelly/Dennis Reynolds, Charlie Kelly/Mac McDonald, Mac McDonald/Dennis Reynolds (one-sided)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter One

12:45 a.m.

“I would most definitely bang a clone of myself!” 

“Haha ew dude what?”

“Think about it Charlie, your clone knows everything that you know. It’s gonna do exactly what you like because that’s what the clone likes. Are you going to tell me I’m wrong?”

“I guess…” Charlie takes a sip of his Coors beer, the cold ring of glass soothing him after a long day of tending bar. The three of them were at the furthest corner of their bar, Mac and Charlie kicked back on barstools and Dennis behind it, cleaning the taps. The gang decided to split halfway through the day, leaving Charlie to do ‘Charlie work’ AND give drinks to all the lonely homeless men who stumble their way through the door. Despite not many of them, because the bar never had customers, he was worn out and yeah, maybe he had to hide in the back office to snort whatever cleaning chemicals were hidden away in cabinets but that's besides the point. Now they were talking about clones and this was more interesting because it took Charlie’s mind off of the aching pain crawling its way up from his feet.

“Isn’t that like, you know, gay?” Mac looks horrified at this fact but underneath it Charlie knows he's intrigued.

Dennis scoffs as he wipes down an empty shot glass and stacks it on the bar counter, “it wouldn’t be gay Mac if it’s you.” He puts both hands on the counter and leans into their little circle they’ve created, making it seem more personal. “Banging your clone is like getting yourself off, right? So it’s just like masturbating.” 

Charlie ponders this. It makes sense but there’s no way it wouldn’t be weird to look down and see your reflection while you’re getting off. Plus there’s no way of knowing if— “what if your clones evil? Dennis he might cut your dick off man, you shouldn’t risk it.”

“Cut off my-? Don’t be ridiculous Charlie, he’d be the same as me,” Dennis rolls his eyes. “Maybe someone _else's_ dick but certainly not my own, _definitely_ not my own.”

Mac cuts in, “that’s like banging Dee.”

Charlie and Dennis both whip around to look at Mac disgusted. 

He doesn’t back down and points a finger at the bartender, “you’d be banging Dee!” He puffs his chest out. “Having sex with your clone is like having sex with your twin, and you already have one!”

Dennis immediately dismisses this with a wave of his hand, “no that’s completely different.” 

“How is that any different!”

“Well for starters, Dee is ugly.” Dennis gives a mirthless chuckle, “and we all know I’m not ugly. I mean we look nothing alike! Your argument is wrong.”

Mac and Charlie share a look, “yeah I guess so, but you still can’t rule out the fact of your clone trying to kill you.”

“For gods sake Charlie, the damn clone won’t kill me!”

The bar door busts open turning all three heads that direction, the previous conversation completely gone now. “Hey-o!” Frank comes dancing into the bar, the winning grin on his face and his perky stride telling of a new scheme being cooked up. Dee comes trailing after him, her hair a mess with twigs sticking out every which way and her posture drooping. Nobody really pays attention to her though.

“What’s the good news?” Dennis deadpans, already suspicious. He doesn’t seem to care all too much and goes back to wiping down a few more glasses.

Charlie and Mac are already excited, practically bouncing in their seats. It’s the only interesting thing to happen all day for Charlie so he's all ears.

“I just talked to one of my old business partners and he got me a gig worth a hell of a lot of money!” Frank flashes a toothy smile and swings himself up onto the barstool next to Charlie. 

“Okay well tell us what it is,” Dennis leans over, interested now, and finishes wiping the last glass with delicate, calculated fingers, setting it upside down next to all the others. He swipes his beer off the counter and takes a swig of it.

“Um yeah, hi, hello? I’m here too,” Dee pulls up a stool as well, waving her hands as she sits down noticing the attention strictly on Frank. “Yeah you wouldn’t believe the shit Frank made me do today-”

“Shut up bird!” Mac yells, the guys all share a laugh.

Dee crosses her arms and sits in silent rage.

“So get this, there’s this hotel way up in Oregon that closes down every winter all the way through to spring. I guess they get some guy to watch it and take care of the boiler or some shit. Anyways, they pay up big money,” as Frank says this all eyes turn to him. 

“So are you gonna take it?,” Dennis asks. Charlie can already see the plan formulating in Dennis’s mind, how he can worm his way into the deal.

Frank laughs like it’s the stupidest question in the world, “hell no! I’m gonna take it and pay some chump way less to do my job for me.” He downs half a beer after saying this.

They all jump at the opportunity in a cluster of voices until Dennis’ stands out, “no no, why-” he nervously laughs, “-I can take the deal, I mean I’ll do it. I have no problem with staying in a hotel by myself. Don’t offer it to some lowlife on the street.”

Frank thinks about this, then shakes his head, “nah you wouldn’t last. You’re supposed to be totally isolated once it snows, without any broads you’d freak out,” he grins knowingly. 

“I can control myself,” Dennis scoffs, “I’d be a better option than Cricket. Plus I’m more reliable, I mean I’m the most stable one here, you’d be stupid to give it to someone else.”

Frank finishes off his beer and Dennis quickly cracks open another one for him, waiting for an answer. “Yeah okay, I could do a few months without having to put up with your bullshit. Consider it done.”

Mac jumps up with a laugh, “yes! Have fun staying here for the next six months while we go on vacation losers!” He raises a hand to high-five Dennis, who only looks at him incredulously.

“What are you doing?” 

Mac shrinks back immediately, “oh well I thought, cause you were going that automatically meant I’m going because we’re roommates.”

Dennis shakes his head, bewildered, “I’m sorry, do you not remember how that went last time? Plus I don’t want you nosing your way into my one opportunity of having a good vacation. No, you don’t get to come with.”

“But what am I supposed to do?”

“Nothing Mac. You aren’t supposed to do anything! This deal doesn't include you!”

Frank cuts in, “nah take him with you. I don’t want him ruining my schemes.” 

Mac pumps his fist, “YES!”

“Fine, but someone else needs to come so we don’t go nuts.” Dennis looks at Charlie.

“What? Me?” His eyes widen, “no, no, no. Jersey Shore was only a few minutes away, I’m not traveling way over to Oregon!”

“We’ll knock you out, it’s not that bad. And we’ll be away from all the people,” Dennis tries to comfort him.

“No dude. That’s even worse, that never ends well!” 

Mac puts a hand on his shoulder, “it’ll only be us three. We can do whatever we want, it’s not like anything bad can even happen.”

Charlie visibly relaxes at this. “I guess that’s okay…” He’s conflicted for a few seconds before slowly nodding his head. “Fine. But if something goes wrong-!” 

“And nothing will.” Dennis reassures.

Charlie finds comfort in the weight settled on his shoulder but it doesn’t stop his sudden, unquenchable urge to down his beer and go huff a bag of glue. He itches at his forearm, feeling shaky all over, but he shoves the feeling down and tries not to think about it. 

When Charlie looks up he sees Mac giving him a concerned look as his hands are visibly quivering, Charlie brushes it off.

“Then it’s settled!” Dennis claps his hands together.

“Well actually-” all eyes turn to Dee, who's been quietly listening in, “I heard the word vacation and six months in the same sentence and I want in.”

Before anyone can object Frank says fine and they all sigh in unison.

“You always have to nose your way into everything!” Mac shouts, rubbing his temples.

Dennis copies Mac and groans, “fine. That’s fine. When do we leave?”

Frank speaks, spilling beer into his lap. “Two days you’ll be out of my hair!” His smile only widens as he says this.

Charlie looks at the time and combs a hand through his disheveled hair. Everyone else does the same and finds it’s nearly 1am. The bar doors and windows really block out the sun, it’s like a prison in here and if you find your way inside, you’ll come out dazed and confused three days from when you entered. Everyone finishes up their drinks, talking about nonsense, then they leave, Dennis and Charlie the only ones left to lock up the bar. 

As they stand outside the bar door, about to walk their separate ways, Dennis slowly locks the door. Charlie watches him in silence, he can still feel his hands shaking but he shoves them deep in his jacket pockets so the other doesn’t pick up on it. “Hey Dennis?”

The taller man turns the key and they both hear the lock shift and click, he pulls out the key and shoves it in jeans. “What’s up bud?” His voice is softer now that it’s just them, and silently Charlie appreciates it.

“Do you really think this trip is a good idea?” He stares up, wide green eyes filled with an impending sense of dread. 

A smile tugs at the corner of his lips and he rests a hand on Charlie’s shoulder the same as Mac did, “it’s a six month vacation of just us dudes-”

“And Sweet Dee.”

“And Deandra…” Dennis mutters, “just hanging out and doing guy stuff. I mean what could go wrong? It’s only us.”

Charlie looks down, “it’s only us.” He tries to find comfort in those words but struggles. Just them four, sharing drinks, watching movies, listening to Howard Stern on the radio, and doing dumb shit at a hotel all to themselves. That thought makes his shoulders untense, and he finally feels his hands come to a steady stop. He looks back up with a small smile, “yeah what could go wrong?”

Dennis reciprocates the smile and pulls the other in for a hug. They both relish the small moment of warmth and release each other, finally parting ways for the night. Charlie gives a small wave and starts his trek towards his apartment. It’s much easier to ponder over possible disasters when you’re alone and have nothing to focus on but your own two feet trudging over concrete. This time he doesn’t stop by any dumpsters to play with the cats or scavenge for leftover food, he simply walks home at a slower pace than usual. Like a mantra, he hears Dennis’s words play over and over in his head, ‘What could go wrong? What could go wrong? What could possibly go wrong? It’s only us.’ Each time it becomes more foreign and distant. Charlie thinks that there are many, many things that could go wrong.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang hits the road.

Dennis slams the trunk of their PT Cruiser, well actually it was  _ Dee’s  _ Cruiser because he didn’t want the mileage to go way up on his own car. He’d also much rather prefer for her car to get its tires slashed or break down than his own. This is a 40 hour trip, anything could happen but he’d rather not have to pay for the damage. Charlie is under the car checking the oil and other car-ly things, he lightly taps his knee sticking out, “almost done down there? We gotta leave soon if we want to miss all the traffic.” As an afterthought he adds, “and Dee.”

Charlie pulls himself out, black streaks on his face and squinting due to the early sun beaming onto his face. “All good, you don’t think she’s gonna be mad at us for taking her car?” 

Dennis snickers, “oh no she’s gonna be pissed.” he grimaces at the disgustingly bright purple skin on the car, “but there’s no way in hell I’m gonna drive my girl way the hell upstate. I don’t want the ignition to freeze up over the winter either. It’d be nice to spend the cash I’m gonna get from Frank on something other than a new car.” He offers a hand to Charlie, cringing when his charred hands take it.

Mac rounds the corner from behind the bar with multiple grocery bags and a 12 pack of beer at hand, strutting up to the car. “Are we ready to go yet? It’s only…” he looks at the sun, “5am, Dee’s gonna be here soon, we need to hurry it up.” Mac starts unpacking the bags, pulling out tons of different snacks, about three huge bags of chips, more bottled alcohol, and dozens of bags of m&m’s. 

“Jesus Mac, did you buy the whole store on your way out?” secretly Dennis was grateful they wouldn’t have to stop that many times but he was only really supposed to get beer. “And it’s 7 not 5, did you look at the sun for the time?” Mac waves him off. “You’re right though, Dee might get here soon and I do  _ not _ wanna put up with her shit for two days stuck in the same car. The woman can’t hold her bladder.”

Charlie’s wiping his hands off on a dirty rag that’s every color but white, it seems as though even more dirt and dander is being rubbed onto his hands, but of course he pays no mind. “So two days?” He scratches at his forearm, a new nervous tick that Dennis has recently picked up on. Just another thing to add to his already overloaded file on the guy. He also notices the way Charlie scratches at the back of his neck for almost thirty seconds straight while he talks, “guys I don’t think I can make that. I mean I won’t stay knocked out that long-” Dennis catches Mac stalking around the car while Charlie is facing him and he just nods along to whatever the little man is saying, slowly opening the back trunk again and making eye contact with Mac. “-and he’s totally out to get us man, if Frank doesn’t pay them back and I’m not at the apartment to back him up I-... Dennis? Are you even listening dude cause this is really important and-!” Mac has him in a choke hold at once and within seconds Charlies out cold.

“Atta boy, help me throw him in the trunk and we can speed on outta here,” Mac complies, grinning dumbly at the praise and wraps his arms around Charlies torso, Dennis grabbing his legs. As he closes the trunk after roughly just tossing the man in the back with everyone elses luggage (which only consisted of a few backpacks and multiple cases of Coors Light), they hear frantic high pitched squawking running up the sidewalk.

Mac and Dennis dash for the driver and passenger door, Dennis frantically trying to start up the engine and Mac screaming at him to drive but he keeps missing the goddamn hole for the key. Someone starts banging on their window and they both deflate with a groan.

“Hey! Open the damn door!” Dennis slowly rolls down the window shooting daggers at the bird. Dee’s squeaky voice pierces his ears as she berates him and yells in his face. “Are you goddamn serious? This is MY car, get out! Get out!”

Dennis puts his hands up, Dee swinging open the door and wrinkling his collared shirt, yanking him out. 

“Are you serious?”

Dennis rolls his eyes, “alright, alright we get it. Let’s just move past it.” 

Dee looks at him incredulously, holding out her hand for the keys which Dennis hesitantly gives, "no, no we will not move past it. You guys tried to steal my car!" She continues to ramble but Dennis has tuned her out by then, eyeing up a hard-body across the street. What he would give for a final grandiose night of sweet love making before being sent off to the mines. Mac, Charlie, and Dee were going to be his only company until next spring and although he puts up with them all the time anyways, this feels different. Because now his every waking moment was the gang. No other outside distractions, no beautiful broads to seduce, random commoners to chat up and possibly start fights with. These thoughts made him feel lonely, empty. The future may be rough, it might be void of anything interesting. Being pent up in buttfuck nowhere might drive him mad, hell if one of the guys gets on his nerves he might kill them. Dennis laughed to himself, the close quarters is new but he's just going to have to get used to it.

Dee finally decides she's done being angry when her brother is staring back completely blank, he's not even listening at this point so she just gets in the car. Dennis follows, kicking Mac out of the passenger side and sliding in upfront. 

"Is Charlie in the back already?" Dee asks.

"Oh yeah we won't hear from him for a few hours," Mac says.

The ignition starts and they're off. Dennis stares longingly at the bar as it slowly gets smaller and smaller, resting his head against the window he feels a wave of nausea pass over him. It quickly fades away but it leaves a weight on his chest that he can't get rid of. He senses that the others feel it too as the car goes quiet and the only sound is the rumbling of the engine and gentle hiss of the air conditioning.

* * *

Charlie awakes with a start as he slams against a bunch of objects, hard corners digging into his sides and things falling on top of him. He groggily opens his eyes to blackness and freezes up. His eyelids blink open and closes rapidly to make sure that he's fully opened them and then he screams, "I'M BLIND! FRANK I CAN'T SEE I'M BLIND! I'M BLIND!" he sobs, reaching out on either side of him to grasp for someone or something but his hands hit what feels like cardboard and a hard, fuzzy surface. He goes to sit up and bumps his head, falling flat back down, groaning. "HELP!" Charlie yells out again, his breathing picking up its pace. He was going to puke, he's stuck in something. He feared for a moment that maybe he'd passed out in the air vents or got drunk and somehow locked himself in a refrigerator or something until he heard muffled voices talking just outside of wherever he was. 

Charlie tried his hardest to listen to what they were saying, it was hard though because the only thing he could hear was the pounding of his heart banging against his chest. The voices started yelling at eachother and then he was thrown forward again, more stuff piling on top and then rolled back against the surface of whatever he was in with a thump. Relief washed over him as Macs voice loud and clear started angrily threatening someone, the gang was nearby so he was fine. His breathing came to a slow and steady rhythm again and he decided to relax. 

Despite not knowing where the hell he was, he was no longer panicking and instead found himself bored. Charlie stuck out his hand again to find something to grab ahold of and picked out something heavy and square. The smooth cardboard felt familiar enough and he started tearing into it, bringing it close so he could try and bite into the side. His teeth ripped off a piece and cans came rolling out into the space he was in. Charlie grabbed one and cracked it open, one sip making him relax into all the bags he was laying on. 

What felt like hours passed, and Charlie had drunken maybe... 12?? beers? The Coors Light made him lose count, but he probably only had about half of that as the crate he assumed he was trapped inside was violently thrown around multiple times. His clothes were drenched in alcohol and it was starting to chafe against his armpits and dick but it was easy to ignore when music was blasting, albeit muffled, from outside. It sounded like one of those 80s girls singing, maybe Whitney Houston. He was jerked onto his side again, beer spilling everywhere.

* * *

Dee looked around at the change in scenery. Everything was just so.. GREEN. It honestly made her uncomfortable, the lack of tall buildings and cars pumping out terrible toxins and infecting their air supply was unnerving. She made sure all of the windows were up to make sure none of that country air could get into the car. 

This whole ride so far was unnerving she quickly realized. After leaving the bar she couldn't help the anxiety crawling its way up her spine. It seemed with each passing road sign her leg bounced more furiously, the only thing taking her mind off of it was the pointless arguing in the car but that ended quickly after leaving Philadelphia. The group now only sat in silence with the stereo playing Dennis mixtape on low. They traveled going eighty on the freeway, the only thing to look at being trees and open grassy fields until finally there was a turn off that led into a town. "Oh thank god, I've gotta take another piss," she laughed, "I thought we'd never see a gas station again." 

"Goddammit Dee, this is the 13th time! We've been on the road for six hours how, how the hell do you even have that much water in you??" Mac shouts, slamming his hand against the back of Dennis seat, causing him to jolt awake. 

"Not water. I loaded up on energy drinks this morning." Dee said, pulling up to a gas station with nearly zero cars around it. 

Dennis groggily raised his head, fully grasping the situation. "Jesus Dee, why?"

She pulled into a parking spot and opened her door, "because there's no way I was gonna let you bozos drive my car. You've destroyed all my others ones already," Dee gets out of the car and slams the door, walking into the store and looking for the bathroom.

Dennis watches his sister disappear into the store and then turns around to Mac in the backseat. "You think Charlie's awake yet?" 

Mac shrugs, "probably," then pauses. "I'll go check on him." They both get out of the car, Dennis stands up and stretches, his back and knees tight from being the in same position for hours. 

The trunk opens and Charlie lets out a scream, Dennis first instinct to immediately run over and look into the vehicle. "Oh jesus Charlie," the back of the car was trashed, all their luggage was soaked and turned a dingy brown color. Charlie was laying in a pile of shredded cardboard and empty beer cans looking completely out of it, shielding his face from the sun.

"Are we here?" He asked.

"No," Dennis grabbed his jacket sleeve and hauled him out of his mess, "no we're not there yet. Charlie you ruined all of our clothes!" He stumbled out of the car, struggling to stand steady. "You're lucky we have more beer upfront oh my god man." Dennis put his head in his hands, slamming the trunk closed.

They all stood around, staring out at the trees. 

"Where... Where are we?" Charlie asked, a hint of panic ridden in his voice.

"Ohio man," Mac answered. 

"Oh."

They sat in silence.

Dennis looked back in the store, seeing no trace of Dee yet. "She's really taking her time in there."

Mac hummed in agreement, Charlie too busy watching a bunch of pigeons eat at rotten take out near a trashcan. Dennis figured it gave him comfort, seeing something familiar he could find on any day in Philly. 

"We've had to stop a ton of times for her to go to the bathroom." Mac says.

"We're never gonna get to Oregon."

Dennis looked over his shoulder again, Dee once again, nowhere to be found. He makes eye contact with Mac, staring for a moment in a silent conversation. Charlie notices, snapping to attention and trying to decipher the plan.

"Wanna leave her here?" Dennis asks.

Nobody even has to agree, they all scramble to get into the car, Dennis sprinting to the drivers side, Mac calling shotgun, and Charlie diving into the backseat. They're all screaming at Dennis to go and this time he actually does, starting up the car and backing out. The Cruiser whines in protest as he slams his foot down on the gas and then they're gone. By the time Dee comes out of the gas station she catches the tail end of her car speeding off onto the freeway entrance and all she can do is watch, eyes wide and jaw gaping. She can barely hear the engine from here and it slowly disappears until she only hears the sounds of a few joggers passing in front of the store. It's then she realizes she left her phone and water in the side door of her car. 

**Author's Note:**

> Things might get real dark, real quick.


End file.
